My Tail

Author's note:
I wasn't inspired to write this like others are. They see something and jot it down. I read a...
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Author's note: I wasn't inspired to write this like others are. They see something and jot it down. I read a book myself that was very cool. I hope this book inspires others to write as well.
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School

​The morning sun was shining bright in eyes. My alarm was beeping in my ear. It read…8:00! I was late for school! ​I rushed about and threw on jeans and a tee. I put on my socks and shoes, grabbed a Poptart, and rushed out the door. I jumped on my bike and went full speed to school. ​I ran down the hall to the classroom and burst into homeroom. Mrs. Lindberg was taking attendance. ​“Coral Seabreeze?” She called. I replied with a loud “Here!” I went out to my locker. I put my bag in there and grabbed my note. I walked back to class and handed the note to Mrs. Lindberg. She made a sad face. I looked through the class. Mary! I found Mary in our class! ​I walked over and sat in my seat next to Althea and Mary. I opened my Poptart. I gulped it down fast. Mary had her black silky hair up in a bun with pearls. She was wearing a black tank top and black Capri’s. She was wearing red Converse as well. ​As I sat down Mrs. Lindberg started telling us about today’s schedule. Mary looked at me, her blue eyes twinkling. She held up her schedule and to my surprise it was the same as Althea and mine. ​“Now, you’ll be following your real schedules today,” Mrs. Lindberg announced to the class. Everyone looked at each other nervously. ​“Now please quiet down. The morning announcements will be on soon,” Our teacher finished. There was a click from the speaker. ​“Good morning this is your principal, Mrs. Brownie. Today is September 17. If you want to start afterschool clubs please sign up. Have a good day!” The announcement clicked off. ​“Alright have a good day!” Mrs. Lindberg opened the door and everyone poured out into the hallways. ​Althea and Mary followed me to our first class of the day, reading. Mrs. Henry held the door open for the whole class and shut the door. She went over to her desk and started taking attendance. When she was done she addressed the class. ​“This period is an hour for free reading. You may read any book or draw anything school appropriate. Any questions?” Mrs. Henry finished. No one raised their hand. “You may begin.” ​I took out The Tail of Emily Windsnap and started to read. Mary stifled a laugh. I gave her look that I hope said really. She stopped giggling. Mary was drawing a picture of two mermaids that resembled Althea and me. Althea was reading The Serpents Shadow by Rick Riordan. ​ ​I started reading from the beginning of my book and there was a sudden SNAP on my desk. I looked up from my book and saw Mrs. Henry standing over top of my desk holding a ruler. ​“What are you reading?” She angrily inquired. I was surprised by what she had asked me. ​“My favorite book, The Tail of Emily Windsnap, why?” I squeaked. Her eyes locked onto me. ​“I wanted to know so I could send you down to the office for reading a 4th grade level book!” Mrs. Henry opened the door and sent me down to the office. I sulked down to the office. ​I sat down in one of the soft chairs in the main office. The small lady at the desk stood up and looked at me with a questioning look. ​“What are you doing here Coral?” She asked me. ​“How do you know my name?” I replied. ​“Oh, I’m Ms. Newton. I’m the secretary! I’ve heard all about you and you are not a trouble maker at all.” She replied. “Head back to class. Why are you here anyway?” ​“Mrs. Henry sent me here for reading a ‘4th grade level’ book.” I turned back to the door and headed for class. I thought about it and headed to the library. A kind man came out to the counter. He had deep blue eyes and tousled brown hair. ​“Hello, how can I help you?” he asked in a soft voice. “My name is Mr. Bagshaw.” ​“Hi I’m Coral Seabreeze. Can you help me find a 7th grade level book?” I asked curiously. ​“Of course! Come with me!” I followed him into the quietest area of the library. “These are all the 7th grade level books. Is there anything else I can do for you?” Mr. Bagshaw finished. ​“Actually, yes. Do you have any books that have been taken out a lot?” He pointed to the top of the shelf. Then he walked back to the front of the library. I looked through the shelf and found a promising looking book it was called Inkheart. I walked back up to the desk and placed there. ​“This isn’t one of our popular books!” he told me. I shrugged and said, “It looked good.” ​I grabbed my book and hurried back to Mrs. Henry’s classroom for the end of the period. When I walked into the room she looked surprised to see me. ​“What are you doing back?” She asked angrily. I stayed calm and collected. ​“Ms. Newton told me that Mrs. Brownie was busy. On my way back to class I even grabbed a new book.” I calmly answered. I walked back over to my desk and opened to the page of my new book. I got to the fifth page when the bell rang. ​The next period was gym with Mr. Best. I grabbed my gym bag and walked down to the locker room. I changed and hurried down to the gym. ​“Good morning class! Today is a free-for-all dodge ball game. Have fun!” He instructed. Everyone rushed over to sides and grabbed dodge balls. Popular kids were on one side and the other kids on the other. A whistle blew and the game was on. At the end of the period we were tied between two of the best players on each team. This period went by quickly. ​3rd period was ELA with Mrs. Shakespeare. She looked kind and wore a brown maxi dress and sandals. She had short grayish brown hair that hung around her small ears. ​“We will be writing a piece for what you did over the summer. The piece will be 3 paragraphs and written in print. We will be doing a planning page first,” Mrs. Shakespeare announced. “Remember to have fun!” ​Mrs. Shakespeare walked over to the cabinet and took out a stack of lined papers. She picked 2 boys to pass them out to the class. ​“Please put a proper heading on your paper. Name, date, teacher, and assignment,” She reminded. Everybody wrote for 40 minutes about their summer vacation. Mrs. Shakespeare stood up and began collecting all of our papers. As she went, she told us that we were going to be switching classes in a few minutes. The bell rang. ​“Have a good rest of your day!” Mrs. Shakespeare called. We all filed out saying you too and other good-byes. “You’re the nicest teacher I’ve met all day,” I complimented. She said her thanks. ​I walked down the hallway towards the room where Mr. Quintus taught his math class. He was tall and stocky with gray salt and pepper hair. His eyes were green as grass and had a genius sparkle in them. ​We all took our seats and got out our pencils. Mr. Quintus picked up a stack of papers and started handing them out. ​“This is a test to see where you left off last year. I want you to take your time. Now please make sure that your pencils are sharpened and you may begin!” he announced. Pencils hit the paper immediately. I looked through my test to see what there was. There were fractions, decimals, and integers. I did all the work and checked my answers over twice. I gently set down my pencil and raised my hand. ​Mr. Quintus walked over and picked up my test. I picked up Inkheart and began reading. It took until the end of class for everyone to finish their tests. I got my things ready for next period. ​As we stepped out of the door the bell rang. My next class was science with Mrs. Smith. She had her blond hair in a bun on the top of her head. Her brown eyes sparkled behind her blue glasses. I took my seat. ​“Hello guys! I’m the science teacher, and today we’re going to be doing an experiment.” Mrs. Smith joyfully said. We had to buddy up. I was being asked to choose between Althea and Mary. I had spent all yesterday with Althea. I choose Mary. Althea looked hurt. I mouthed sorry to her and she ignored it. I then realized that science was about to end. It was time for lunch. ​Althea and Mary were waiting for me at the lunch table. Althea looked aggravated and Mary looked excited to be near me. I sat down and opened my lunch box. ​“Hey mer-“ Mary started. She stopped when I glared at her. “Sorry! Can I come over after school?” ​“Sure,” I sighed. “But bring your bathing suit too.” I took a bite of my sandwich. Mmmmm peanut butter. I drank half my water bottle. I couldn’t wait for later. ​Everyone lined up for 7th period. I had Mr. Bartolotta for social studies. He was tall and long with a brown gray comb over. He wore a pair of glasses on his head. ​“Welcome to social studies! Today we will be starting on the renaissance,” He proclaimed. We took our seats. “Today we will be watch a movie about the renaissance.” He put the movie in. we sat there and watch the half an hour long movie on the renaissance. Mr. Bartolotta walked around and jotted things down on his clipboard. ​“Ok time to get your things ready. You’ll be going to your 8th period class. See you tomorrow!” The bell rang and Mary, Althea, and I hurried down to the swimming class locker room. Mr. Blue was standing by the locker rooms. ​“Cove, Seabreeze, who’s your friend?” He questioned. ​“This is Mary Bellamy, sir. She’ll be starting your class in our place.” I informed. ​“I heard you and Cove can’t swim because of your ankles.” He said suspiciously. ​“Yes sir. But we will still be attending your class.” ​“Ok go put your suits on!” We all rushed into the locker room to change. Mary put in her bright green polka dotted swim suit and we all rushed out to the pool. A wave of nausea washed over me as we sat by the pool. ​The pool itself was full of activity. Boys were jumping off the diving boards, girls were floating in tubes, and I was surrounded by water. Mary had made her way over to the diving board and was betting the boys that she would do a better cannon ball. ​Althea was sitting next to me on the edge of the pool. We had our feet in the water. If the water went above our ankles our feet had scales. If it went up to our calves our toes would elongated into the end of my tail. And then above that we were mermaids. The highest it ever went was just under our calves. ​We were relieved when the bell finally rang for 9th period. Althea, Mary, and I threw our clothes on over our suits and ran to Mrs. Picasso’s room. The art teacher had brown hair that flowed down her back. She was in a white t-shirt covered in stains and a pair of jeans that were covered in paint. There was a lump of clay on the table next to her. ​“Hello, young artists. Today we will be doing a clay pinch pot. Remember to be creative!” She told us. Mrs. Picasso cut 32 pieces of clay and handed them out to the class. I started my clay pot by pressing my thumb into the center and pressing it into a circle. ​I was happy with how mine looked. I put my name on the bottom and gave it to Mrs. Picasso to put in the kiln. She was impressed with my work and I drew for the rest of the period. ​When the final bell finally rang I raced to my bike. I couldn’t wait to get home.